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U.S. stocks open lower ahead of ECB meeting

Xinhua, January 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks opened modestly lower Wednesday amid mixed corporate earnings, as investors were eagerly awaiting the European Central Bank' s (ECB) policy meeting.

International Business Machines Corp. shares led the declines on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, slipping 3.09 percent to trade at 152.10 U.S. dollars a share, after the company late Tuesday reported a 12-percent decline in fourth-quarter revenue that trailed analysts' forecast.

Netflix Inc. shares spiked 16.08 percent to trade at 404.19 dollars a share early Wednesday, a day after the U.S. online video streaming service provider said it added 4.33 million net subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to 4.07 million in the previous year period, beating market expectations.

E-commerce giant eBay' s earnings are scheduled for release after Wednesday' s closing bell.

On the economic front, led by solid gains in single-family housing production, U.S. housing starts jumped 4.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.089 million units in December, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday.

However, U.S. stocks looked over the positive housing data and fluctuated narrowly, as investors were reluctant to make big moves to adjust their positions ahead of the ECB' s policy meeting on Thursday, at which the bank is widely expected to expand its monetary stimulus by announcing a government bond buying program.

Shortly after the opening bell, the blue-chip Dow lost 58.44 points, or 0.33 percent, to 17,456.79. The S&P 500 fell 4.17 points, or 0.21 percent, to 2,018.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 12.17 points, or 0.26 percent, to 4,642.67. Endi